If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You will have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. Please login at least once every 90 days to keep from being deleted as an inactive user. New users may be moderated until their first post. We reserve the right to put users on moderation or to remove users from the Forums without notice if necessary.

The VUD Forum is located in the WTFDA Members Area. You need to be registered and a WTFDA member to access this forum.
***The DECEMBER 2017 VUD is now available.***

Where there's smoke, there's fire, and Grupo Radio Centro had both today.

A fire, apparently due to a short circuit, broke out on the first floor of its Constituyentes 1154 headquarters, which had to be evacuated, around midday. The company's Mexico City radio stations went off the air for a short time, while traffic was backed up in the area as emergency personnel arrived on scene to put out the fire. There were no injuries as a result, though one person was treated for smoke inhalation.

For the news/talk stations, the timing could not have been worse, as the fire broke out at the end of Enrique Peña Nieto's speech announcing changes in his cabinet, which will allow José Antonio Meade to resign and seek the PRI presidential nomination.

I'd like to announce something. 2018 will be, of course, an electoral year (with local elections in every state except Baja California and Nayarit to boot). I'm thinking of working on a Field Guide to 2018 with information on the key presidential candidacies, parties, etc. I can't do that yet because nobody has formally filed to run, and some coalitions are still up in the air.

The IFT has warned that the costs of HD Radio are too high for social stations. In fact, just one of the stations with HD Radio in Mexico is social: that's XHUIA-FM Mexico City, which belongs to probably the best-equipped class of social stations, those owned by private universities.

The warning came from the IFT's Consultative Council, which notes the major problem is that all stations pay the same costs for the rights to use HD Radio, and that community stations should be exempt from the fees paid to the IFT for the appropriate applications.

The IFT also got the ball rolling this week on the 2018 PABF, which (at least not including requests made to the agency) will include primarily social stations for broadcast use as well as a number of commercial FM stations and a smattering of public station allotments:

The commercial FM stations in the 2018 PABF, along with those in the 2016 and 2017 editions, will be put up for bid in the IFT-8 radio station auction slated for the second quarter of 2018.

Among the largest markets in the 2016-2017 PABFs, sure to excite interest, are stations (these are Class A) at Gómez Palacio, Uruapan, Matehuala, Culiacán, Los Mochis, Caborca, and Tampico (2017), as well as Tepic (B1), Ciudad Obregón, Ciudad Mante, Ciudad Victoria and Fresnillo (Class A).

There were 27 stations in 2017 and 42 in 2016. Combined with the 24 stations in the approved 2018 PABF (a number that could still rise after petitions are made), some 93 FM frequencies will be up for the taking.

One is a pirate run by the municipal government of Ometepec, Guerrero, which turned 1 recently. (Get a concession, please!)

The other is the ever-exciting Violeta Radio (XHCDMX-FM), which, now that it has a callsign and its concession, is going in search of a logo and holding a logo contest. Their existing studios are being evaluated and a transmitter setup being designed.

For a 60m tower at those coordinates, I calculate a HAAT of 577 meters. Assuming the Mexican rules for power reduction with antenna height in excess of 100m are the same as in the US (they probably are) the authorized ERP would be 160 watts.

Google Earth shows a small square building at that location. Can't tell what it is.

The barely useful 2018 electoral catalog of stations from the INE is out. The primary takeaways are:

-The IFT has authorized tech parameters for a number of the IFT-4 stations, including some of the Multimedios Radio builds and stations like XHPSEB-FM (Juxtlahuaca) and XHPIXT (Asunción Nochixtlán). Some social stations not previously described also seem to have full info. These have full information on their coverage and coverage maps should be forthcoming from the INE. It may take a while before sheets hit the RPC, though.

-The other story is that XHBAJA-FM San Quintín, B.C. is on the air and has been since August 12. The article that supports this claim says it is the first commercial station in San Quintín: while a permit wolf, it is not actually commercial. It was one of the first stations to receive a social concession from the start. The station is "La Chula" with a grupera/Regional Mexican format and lacks any Web presence.

-The second-wave migrants are missing. Article 90 clears retain their current frequencies in this list.

No, I don't know what it means either, but it's the sound of another community radio station getting the green light. Yati Ne Casti, A.C., will be broadcasting to Ixtepec, Comitancillo, Juchitán, Ixtaltepec, Santo Domingo Chihuitán and Santiago Laollaga, Oaxaca. It's the third such station in that region of Oaxaca greenlighted in the last year, after XHIKE 89.1 and XHGCY 106.1.

Meanwhile, Familia Brillante, A.C. will set up shop as a community station in Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, where a Radio La Brillante is already operating on 107.7 MHz. This station has a religious bent, between the "Devotionals" section on its website, the fish symbol in its logo, and the Bible quotes on its Facebook page. It is the first authorized community station in Mexico that can be characterized as Christian (XHAGP, XHVDR and the FCSM stations are plain old social), though of course religious associations are barred from owning broadcast stations.

They evidently *returned* to the air on the 16th — the day after the IFT greenlighted their concession award. This station has operated as a pirate since at least 2014.

For fans of multiprogramming authorizations, XHCZC Comitán, Chiapas is getting hooked up, while Sureste TV is being replaced with Gala TV in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Villahermosa, Campeche, and Chetumal, effectively ending the experiment in operating a regional multicast channel in favor of Televisa's strategy to multiplex Gala TV where it can. Coatzacoalcos was already unhooked from Sureste TV earlier this year.

XHPBQR-TDT 11 (Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro) will bring the first university station to the Bajío region. Programs will be from 7am to 9pm when the station launches.

There are still things to be done, namely choosing a channel number (their RF number is, of course, reserved), figuring out the initial schedule (some programs, such as the university's newscast and productions of the various colleges, are already slated), and completing other facilities before XHPBQR can formally hit the air. (Edit: Apparently it is using VC 24)

———

In more baffling news, the buried highlight of the IMER 2016 annual report is that they actually asked for six radio stations in the 2016 PABF!

These stations would be at Acapulco, Campeche, Coatzacoalcos, Colima, Mazatlán, and Zacatecas. The catch is that of the six frequencies requested, one went not to IMER, but to the SPR. That was 104.3 Coatzacoalcos.

The IMER formerly operated stations in Campeche and Colima on AM. These stations were joint ventures with state governments which IMER wound down in 2004-05. The Colima station, XEBCO, was dismantled not long after in what amounted to an AM-FM migration (XHIRC-FM came on the day after XEBCO signed off for good).

The SPR's incursion into radio seems awfully duplicative of IMER's efforts. IMER is supplying programming (from their online station Radio México Internacional) to the new SPR FMs at Tapachula and Mazatlán. That's not even considering that there's also Radio Educación operating under government auspices.

———

Oh yeah, and this pirate in San Pedro Tlanixco, State of Mexico would be a snoozer to not worry about if its frequency of 96.2 did not make me think I was reading about Colombia... Gotta be hard to tune in on some radios! Apparently this frequency was deliberately chosen in some sort of reference to political prisoners. A video I found explains it this way:

9 - something about the frequencies that are used (or in other words, it had to be 9 or 10)
6 - for the six people that are imprisoned
2 - for the two people that apparently have warrants out for their arrest

Apparently there is some sort of fight to defend water sources in the area, from which this whole movement originates. First, they might want to consider a concession. Or getting a frequency change.

It's hard to keep up with all the new IFT-4 stations. While XHPTCS Tapachula appears to be delayed from its planned November 20 launch date, there was also news last month on the Tribuna stations being built in La Paz, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta.

Guillermo Francisco Hernández Servín may sound familiar — I interviewed him on the technical changes for UAM Radio back in July. He is joined by Claudia Meléndez Estrada, who will head up the entire group.

———

There's also a rumbling radio rumor in Monterrey that has ties to a station north of the border.

The rumor is that the electronic music format for XHCHL-FM "Beat 90.1" is on its way out and "Ultra" is on its way in, with a Spanish classic hits (80s/90s) format.

No, this is not the same Ultra operating in the center of the country. It is, however, related to another station: KJAV 104.9 FM in McAllen. In 2015, R Communications sold KJAV and KVJY 840 AM to a company called Bi-Media.

It turns out Bi-Media's name does not come from being bi-national, though that describes the company. The Bi comes from Bichara, as in the Bichara family that controls the Monterrey NRM group. The four principals of Bi-Media all have the last name Bichara (two of them are Mexican citizens who hold the maximum 25% foreign ownership and the other two are Americans).